The One Where Pepper Leaves and Loki Comforts Tony
by Dark Rabbit
Summary: Post Avengers, post Iron Man 3, post the hypothetical moment that comes afterward - That's got to come, I am very sure of it. - where Tony builds a new suit, and Pepper moves out, because let's face it, Tony's got to be pretty hard to live with. Also post whatever happens in Thor: The Dark World. TonyxLoki, TonyxPepper
1. Pizza Delivery

**The Avengers, Iron Man, and Thor, and all situations and characters thereof, belong strictly and solely to Marvel Comics. This is a fan-work, meant for enjoyment only, and not for any material profit.**

Okay, so here's how he knows it's over: It's when he comes upstairs for a break while he's working on the Mark 1.0. It has …maybe been a little while since he came upstairs, like 12 or 14 hours or so, but the new design doesn't exactly fit together the same way the old ones did, and some things you can only find out by putting them together and giving them a try.

…So he comes upstairs: Order a pizza. Check, is there… Yeah, there's one more six-pack left in the fridge. Samuel Adams. Pepper's beer. Left over from before she moved out in August. Head into the bathroom, unzip and get a little relief. Then he comes out, and it occurs to him to check his cell phone.

Thumb it on, and there's this message waiting for him: "I've been wanting to ask Pepper out ever since you broke up. Is that okay with you, Tony?"

And he's like, "Huh?" "Broke up" is not the same thing as "moved out". Pepper couldn't take his noise. She couldn't take the mess everyplace. And he got tired of always having to worry about her, whenever there was a new super-villain in town. They aren't broken up, she's just living in her apartment in Brentwood again, and he's still right here, just a few short miles west, on Sunset Boulevard.

So he looks, and it's Happy, who sent the message. Good old Hap, who never was too good with technology. "You sent an old message, dude," he texts back. "When's this from, 2010? 2011?"

And then he's on into the bathroom for a shower, and he doesn't think any more about the message until he's toweled off and dressed, and he's got one of Pep's beers open on the coffee table in front of him. And that's when it occurs to him that Happy carries a new model Stark-phone, one of the ones from 2012. And he's like, "Did I have trouble with Pep in 2012? Well, there was the thing about the rabbit… But she forgave me for that one, after we escaped from Killian. Since then maybe?" But he can't think of anything.

So that's when the doorbell rings and the pizza is there. And he's not really all that surprised that it's Loki carrying it. He'd heard Thor's wicked half-brother was on the loose again, and he usually shows up here sooner or later, when he's in between evil missions. "You left the pizza guy alive this time, right?" he says.

Little snerk from the Asgardian with the pizza. "I even paid him."

"Lucky mortal." Tony takes the Meat-Lover's Supreme over to the coffee table. He cracks open a Sam Adams for Loki, and hands him some napkins. "Listen, if your bodyguard thinks you and your girlfriend have broken up, do you think that means you have?"

And Loki looks at him over a slice of pizza. "You want me to kill her for you?"

"No, just…" It's only now that it starts to sink in, and Tony takes a big bite and chews until the feelings go away. "Why would she do that? What did I ever do to her?"

Loki finishes his pizza. He drinks a Sam Adams in one or two big gulps. "I could kill the bodyguard."

"No, man, that's okay." Although it feels good to have someone offer to do things for him, for a change. "But …you know… I'm single now, I guess. What should I do?"

Sneaky smile, from the Asgardian with the pizza grease above his upper lip. "I can think of some things." He says that, and about two seconds later, Tony's tasting pizza and beer on his tongue, and feeling how soft his hair is, even with all the product he uses. And a while after that, he's seeing how pale his skin is under his clothes, and touching the scars on his arms (from combat-practice with Thor), and kissing the big one on his side (from when he was with Thanos). …And after that, other stuff happens.


	2. Red Roses for a Peppery Lady

The roses are for Pepper. Big vase full of them, sitting on that antique sideboard-thing she got at the auction in San Marino. That sideboard-thing that she still hasn't taken, so that means she's coming back, right? Anyway, she'll be here for dinner, and he can ask about the sideboard then (But he won't, because if she takes it, that's the last thing holding her here). So Loki goes over to the sideboard, and he's like, "Red roses. Dare I think they're for me, Stark?"

And he's like, "Well you can think that." Loki's funny sometimes, and it's hard to tell what'll piss him off. For instance, that time The Avengers found the test tubes with his DNA, in Doom's lab, and they destroyed them, he got all mad. Then Tony says, "I got you this," and he holds out the box of chocolate-dipped strawberries (Special trip to Fannie Mae; it's Pep that's allergic to strawberries, Loki's allergic to Thor).

Loki takes them, and he barely even looks at them. His eyes are on the roses. "They're for your girlfriend. Your ex-girlfriend."

Hey, don't rub it in, Chaos-Boy. Who is it, always going on and on about, "Oh, I was the rightful King of Asgard"? Who's that? Don't tell me about living in the past.

So Loki reaches out one of his long, white hands (that have been …oh god, so many places, all over Tony's whole body, and that feel …so good), and he takes one of the roses. – Pepper's roses. – "I care this, for your ex-girlfriend." Poink, poink, poink, off come three of the petals. "She's not coming back." Pick-pick, and scatter-scatter-scatter, and there go all the rest of the petals, all over the floor. They're kind of pretty, down there. "I'm here, and she's not. These are my roses." And he scoops up all of them into his arms. And these are some prickly roses, Tony got stuck by one of them, just adjusting them in the vase, but Loki's fought bilgesnapes, what does he care about a few thorns? "Come," he says, and the next thing you know, he and Tony are in the bedroom.

In Pepper's bedroom (does it still count as hers, when she hasn't been here in over a month?). And Loki's sitting on her side of the bed. And he's picking the petals off all of those roses, and he's spreading them, all over the bed. And then he does one of those zappy-things, and his clothes are gone, and there's his white body, against the red rose petals. "My roses," he says, "and my bed."

He is awful hot, all naked like that. His mouth and his hardon are almost the same color as the roses. Then he does the zappy-thing again, and all Tony's clothes are on the floor. And you know, he could waste time getting mad about it, because it's sort of bossy if you think about it, but what the hell, it's 1:00, and Pepper's coming at 6:00. There are better ways of spending the next five hours.

"For right now," Tony says, and he sits down on the bed next to Loki. He pulls out the lube and the condoms. Lots of condoms, because he knows how this is going to go. "Your bed, and your roses, and your Tony, to do whatever you want with. But you magic me some new roses before Pepper gets here, deal?"

Loki's soft lips, against his throat. "She's not coming back to you, Stark." But he's the God of Lies, what else is he going to say?


	3. Heli-Carrier

Heli-Carrier. SHIELD Headquarters. Extra-judicial blah-blah-blah. Essentially, what it means is if they do something to piss off the brass, up goes their little Heli-Carrier out into international water, or high enough in the air that they're out of American airspace. It is, of course, the last possible place you should bring a supervillain (but that's exactly what makes it fun).

Tony doesn't usually get as drunk as this. Drunk's not a good look on a guy. You get all sloppy and careless, and you do stupid things (like bringing war criminals into SHIELD Headquarters). But Pepper never showed tonight, and he had these reservations, so he finally ended up taking Loki instead. – And by the way, can we take a moment and notice how he's rocking that Armani suit, that he conjured out of nothing when Tony said they were going out? Man's got style, whatever else you can say about him. – …So yeah, so Loki's idea of a quiet evening out involves a little more drinking than Pepper's (and a little less quiet), which is how it happens, that it's 3:00 AM, and they're visiting the Heli-Carrier.

If you think about it, it's SHIELD's fault. What kind of super-secret government organization leaves their HQ unguarded at 3:00 AM? The kind that wants to get broken into, am I right? I mean, can I get an amen, brothers and sisters?

…There's actually one night watchman. Loki does something to him. Tony's not sure what, but he's promised it didn't hurt him any, and Tony …almost thinks he can trust him. …Actually, he hears the guy snoring as they go by him, so that's okay, that's cool.

Then they're on-board. Loki's like, "All this equipment, all these mortal gadgets." And he has to touch all of them as they go by, and he's looking at everything, like, "I see you got the Mjolnir-dents out of the door," and, "Oh, you've replaced the Holding Cell where I trapped my brother."

Tony's like, "You're not taking notes, are you? And you're going to go tell Doom everything you've seen as soon as you say good-bye?"

He's leaning against Fury's desk, at the moment, with his shirt-collar open, and Loki's hands halfway down his back. "Would you care?" Loki says, with his lips against his throat.

"Well yeah," Tony has to admit. "After all, it is my safety at stake." But he doesn't push Loki away, and he doesn't stop fiddling with his belt, trying to get his pants open.

"Doom fools himself, if he thinks the God of Chaos is his to command," Loki says. With his lips against Tony's throat, and his pants wide-open in front, and both Tony's hands wrapped around his very impressive hardon. "I am my own man, and none control me."

"Admit it." – Zip-zip, there go Tony's pants too. There they go, in a pool of expensive, bespoke tailoring on the floor, and there's the billionaire playboy-industrialist standing there with his ass hanging out, and the backs of his legs getting cold. – "You're just with me because you know I'll do whatever you want, aren't you?"

For a long time, Loki's quiet. – Not completely quiet. There are the sucking noises. And the dick-rubbing noises. And the bumping-against-Fury's-desk noises. – "Yeah," he says at last. "That's why I'm with you, Stark." But he cuddles up so close, so goddamn close, and after that neither of them talks any more, for a long time.


	4. Home

All right, so Heli-Carrier. So Heli-Carrier for, like, 2-3 hours. Sun comes up, Tony's like, "we'd better get out of here. Loki, come back to my place." Loki does. Ironman suit. The new one (and was JARVIS pissed about him taking it with half the circuits still not done!). Nifty little doo-dad for getting home when you're still tanked from the night before.

And Tony's like, "You think Fury will notice the condom on his chair?" (That he only remembered after they were halfway home, and he was looking at the lights of Covina from the sky.)

And Loki's like, "Yes. Also the one on his desk, and the three you left on the floor in the Holding Cell. The question is, will he mention them to you, Stark?"

He will. One more reason not to get drunk right there: One, maybe two fewer martinis, and they'd have all gone in the trash where they belonged. He'd have been sitting on top of the world, just flying home for a little more mad villain-sex the way he ought to be, this time of night, instead of staring at the prospect of a lecture (which Fury will probably give him in front of the rest of The Avengers). But oh well. Tomorrow's another day. For now, they're going home.

Swoosh-swoosh-swoosh through the sky, and then plop-plop-plop down on the balcony, that's still got the two chaise longues on it, the really comfy ones (that Pepper picked out. That she's not here to use any more.). Dark blue and tan: Really boring colors for furniture, but they're brightened up no end, when they've got Loki on one of them, and the pieces of his suit scattered all around, nearby. Also they solve the problem he was having about keeping his balance. Definitely too many martinis tonight.

And Tony shoves his chaise longue very close to Loki's. And he plops down on it (just a little quicker than he expected). And he reaches out for that long, skinny supervillain-body, and goes to plant a kiss on the pale neck, under all the dark hair. "Well, here we are," he says. "Home sweet home."

And Loki's mouth is against Tony's chest; whatever he's saying comes out, "Mumble-mumble-mumble." Tony's not even sure if it matters.

Some part of his brain is nosy though. "What was that?" he hears himself saying(with his own lips still under that spicy-scented villain-hair, against that soft, pale, villain-throat).

Nothing. – Tony's mouth moves lower. – More nothing. – A little lower. – Still more nothing. – Low enough that he's going to have a villain-nipple in his mouth any second now. Loki squeals when you do that; he sounds just like a little kid. – Then, "Don't talk of home, Stark," and Loki sits up on his chaise longue, dislodging Tony's mouth (and his arms, for that matter).

Because he doesn't have a home himself any more, right? Because his father said... – What was it he said? – "I'm disinheriting you..." Something like that? No more home, no more family... If he were a sensitive guy, Tony would probably hug him right now, and say, "I feel your pain." But all the sensitivity went away, a few martinis ago.

"Don't go all emo on me, Loki," he says instead. "Not right when we're about to fuck."

He feels Loki's nails dig into his back. Deep, deeper... A little deeper, and there'd be some serious blood flowing, but fortunately Loki bites his nails. Sensitive-Part tells him that Loki definitely needs comforting, but Sensitive-Part isn't that strong at the best of times. Drunk-Part of his brain tells him this is hot as hell, and there'd better be some fucking coming soon. Finally, Loki lets go. And he gets up, and goes to the kitchen, and he comes back with a bottle of something (Chateuneuf-du-Pape, that he got to share with Pepper, only she left).

"I should not expect too much of you," Loki says. "After all, you are only a mortal," and he magics the cork out of the wine and takes a long drink. He holds out the bottle. "You want some, Stark?"

But sometimes, against all odds, a little bit of good sense manages to crawl to the top of your brain, and Tony says, "No thanks, I think I've had enough." Because that was an Asgardian-spanking he just got, and not the good kind, either.


	5. Sunday Morning

Tony wakes up, and hes got his arms wrapped around someone's warm body, and his nose buried in their soft, spicy-smelling hair. "Warm" he thinks. Then someone moves, and their big feet kick his ankles, and Tony opens his eyes, and it's Loki.

He can't decide if he's glad about this, or sorry. Pepper would have been better. – But it wouldn't have been Pepper, Pepper's gone. She's gone, gone, gone... Why the fuck is she gone? – Pepper doesn't wriggle around like that in her sleep, and she knows where the Advil is, and right now the hangover from last night is really starting to kick in. Besides, Loki never stays. He's got his villain-shit that he does. ...On the other hand, at least it's somebody. And not a crap-ton of floozies, that he's going to have to pay to get rid of, or nobody, and he wakes up, and the bed's all empty.

Wriggly, kick-y Loki turns a little, under his arm. Then his head's on Tony's shoulder, and his face is looking up at his. Long black lashes, against pale villain-cheeks, check. Faint smile on the villain-face, not a crafty smile, or a dangerous smile, but just a smile. A peaceful smile.

Baby-smile. Innocent, comfy smile. He'll go back to sleep with him, if the hangover lets him. They can play together, in whatever innocent dreamland is inside that pretty head of his. And if Tony tilts his head just so, his head is against Loki's hair. And one hand's convenient for stroking Loki's cheek, the other can just reach to stroke his right arm. Smooth, even strokes. ...And the soft skin under his fingers.

What day is it? Is it Saturday? Well, he got the diodes for the Mark 1.0 on Thursday. – There are some lines of thought you should avoid, when you're trying to get back to sleep, but try telling that to your brain, once it gets going. – And... When did he get Happy's text? ...Aw fuck, Happy's text. ...And aw fuck, out late last night with Loki. And it was Saturday night, because the sign said "Saturday Night: All Well Drinks, $3.00." And he had to explain to Loki why he didn't want them, and why it paid to order the good stuff. ...And then he acted like an asshole to him, when they were making out last night. Shit.

Loki's going to leave just like Pepper. Fuck. Goddamn Stark. Goddamn asshole. Loki doesn't have a home any more. Least you can do is show some sympathy... – In passing, can we ask whether he actually needs a home? Isn't he busy running around doing villain-stuff most of the time anyway? – ...All you do is act like a jerk (and make everyone you love go away).

But Tony just keeps stroking the soft villain-skin. And the hangover stays quiet enough that he's fairly comfortable. And after a while, Loki starts wriggling around some more, and then he's awake.

"Sunday morning, Pretty Mary Frost-Giant." Tony angles his head so he can kiss the thin, pale villain-cheek, right there against his shoulder. "Ready to get up and take on the world?"

Wriggle-wriggle, then he sort of seizes up. Puckered face. "Uggh!" Apparently Asgardians can get hangovers. Not that you'd know it from Thor. "Would this have happened if I'd had the 'well drinks' last night?"

"Would have been worse if you'd had the well drinks." Brush another quick kiss on the villain-cheek, while Loki tries to pull away. "Coffee'll help. Lots of coffee. And breakfast. I know a place in South Pasadena. Biscuits and gravy and a fried egg on top. You don't think you want it now, but I guarantee..."

There goes Loki out of bed and into the bathroom. "And Advil," Tony yells through the closed door. "That's a painkiller. I'll get some for both of us." ...That is he will, if he can find where Pepper keeps kept them.

"Listen, I'm sorry about last night." Shower's going, and the door's in the way. Try again, louder this time. "Listen, I'm sor..." Stop that, Stark. Whoyells apologies?

"...And if you want a home, you've got one here." This time, he knows he won't be heard. He doesn't want to be heard. This isn't Loki's home, it's Peppers. Pepper's and his. What if she comes back and he's here? Then she'll leave for good. "I'll go find the Advil," Tony mutters, and he walks off feeling guilty, but not exactly knowing what he feels guilty for.


End file.
